Was Eminem’s ESPN Appearance Really That Strange?

He was on a football show to talk about a new record, so what did we expect?

Eminem made an appearance on ESPN’s Saturday Night Football halftime show that’s being called “puzzling” and “bizarre,” but to our eyes, it looks totally fine.

In a weird promotional attempt, Eminem (or Marshall Mathers, as ESPN preferred to call him), stopped by the show to talk with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit about his new album, tease the video for the song “Berserk,” and talk about the Detroit Lions. But the rapper started off by giving a kind of hilarious blank stare. Right after the musical clip aired, he admitted that live TV kind of freaks him out.

I’m not an avid football watcher (the Super Bowl is about it for me) so I’m not sure how often a musical guest appears on this show. But just the shot of the three men standing in a row indicates that there are different styles at play here, which could have also enhanced the quirkiness of the interview.

The first question about how long it takes to make a music video shows that the interviewers, while probably fantastic when talking about football, are a little out of their element on this topic.

And on the flip side, when Eminem is asked about the upcoming Lions game, it seems to take him a minute to gather his thoughts to come up with a response. But honestly, we’re talking about Eminem here. So I’m a little surprised he played it as straight as he did.

It would be interesting to know if there was any media prep before his appearance. But clearly, the goal was to get the word out about the album, which this visit clearly did. The media is picking it up and the clip is being passed around on Twitter. And based on the bit that’s included in the video, the song sounds pretty good.